Friday, July 11, 2014

SOLEDAD – A correctional officer is being treated for injuries he suffered from a stabbing attack by a Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) inmate this afternoon.

At 12:50 p.m., a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) correctional officer was on duty at the institution’s Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU) when inmate David Gomez, 48, slipped out of his handcuffs and stabbed the officer multiple times in his head area with an inmate-manufactured weapon.

Inmate Gomez was subdued and subsequently remanded back to an ASU cell in another unit inside the prison.

The officer was taken to an outside hospital for treatment of his injuries, which are still unknown at this time.

Inmate Gomez was committed to CDCR on April 14, 1998 from Los Angeles County to serve a 91-years to life sentence for rape, oral copulation with a person under 14 with threat and first-degree burglary.

Gomez, who is currently standing trial in Monterey County for the 2004 homicide of his SVSP cellmate, has a long history of assaults against attorneys, mental health and custody staff and other inmates.

SVSP’s Investigative Services Unit is investigating the incident. Today’s matter will be referred to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

SVSP opened May 1996 on approximately 300 acres in Monterey County. The institution provides long-term housing for 3,518 minimum- and maximum-custody male inmates and employs 1,395 people.